Gena/Finn

"Told through emails, text messages, journal entries, and blog posts, two fans of a popular TV show become friends online, but soon realize the bond between them is more than fan fiction in this story of friendship and love through social media in the digital age"-- Provided by publisher.

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The format of this book is creative (it's an exchange of online posts, text messages, email messages, etc.), but wow, the story is intense. Ever wonder what would happen if you made an online friend and she turned out, literally, to be psychotic? That happens in this book. Ever wonder what would happen if you got so caught up in an online friendship that it started to interfere with your real life? That happens, too. It is one wild ride, but it explores questions like these that probably a lot of us have in the back of our minds. I especially liked the sensitive, realistic way that the character with psychotic disorder is portrayed--a reminder that people with mental illnesses are, first and foremost, still people.

Gena/Finn is a book that brought up a lot for memories for me. The majority of my university years were spent with people loving and worshiping fandoms. From cheesy Canadian televisions shows such as The Collector to the fantastically aged video game series Suikoden, the majority of the friends that I have came from being a part of a fandom.

This book is told in a mixed media format: chat logs, e-mails, text logs, blog posts, litter the pages this book from beginning to end. It's actually perfect given how this story is being told. Gena is a young girl who has a secret identity, while Finn is a twenty-five year old recent college grad who is trying to find where she fits into the world. She has the perfect boyfriend, but he doesn't seem as interested in her fannish life.

The story of Gena/Finn hit so close to home as I was reading it. It reminded me of my university days where I would spend hours looking through message boards (we didn't have tumblr when I was growing up), I ran a successful Suikoden role-playing community over on Livejournal, and I even shared that love with my friends. We all felt as though we were sharing all our loves and passions, and that is totally reflected in both heroines, Gena and Finn.

When fandom and real life begin to collide and feelings become apart of the equation, this novel loses a bit of the fannish edge in favour of pushing the larger parts of the narrative forward, while still inserting fannish aspects when possible. It's delightful, heartbreaking, emotional, and I found I could identify with both heroines a lot of the time. The only character I couldn't identify with was Charlie, seeing as my husband has been a large influence in my life when it comes to fandoms as well. However, I could totally understand and even empathize with him and his personal feelings through the novel.

Fandom often gets such a tough rap and treated as something to be misunderstood. Gena/Finn remind us that fandom came bring people together in remarkable ways. There's so much love and attention to detail in this novel, and I loved the positive memories that it reminded me of as I was reading it. This story just gave me all the feels, and it's a book I plan on buying for all my fannish ladyfriends because dammit fandom friendships are rad.

Such an amazing book!!! I loved how it was told through notes, webpages, texts and e-mails. This book had a really strong plot line that I loved and had a twist that I didn't see coming. But I didn't like the ending, it didn't feel like an ending, the story just stopped. Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. - @Fallenangelhushhush of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

This book excels in several ways. First, it's a fantastically accurate representation of a fandom community. Second, it's a gorgeously created relationship; the evolution of Gena and Finn's relationship from internet friends to IRL friends and beyond is beautifully and believably done. Third, the gorgeous design succesfully renders a variety of mediums of communication (blog posts, Tumblr-equivalent posts, texts, emails, messenger chats, and handwritten notes) and doesn't distract from the plot that's happening. Finally, the book tackles some serious issues in its latter half and does it beautifully. I stayed up late to finish this one and read it all in less than a day. Highly recommended, particularly for anyone who's fallen into the fandom rabbit hole at some point in their lives.